Kragthorpe: Mike Weir climbing out of deep slump

Golf • Ten years after Masters' win, his game showing signs of coming around

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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Considering how Mike Weir has made nearly $27 million in his career, the golfer's 2013 earnings of $27,384 may not seem like much.

Yet factoring in everything Weir has gone through in recent years, collecting two checks already this season represents progress.

Approaching the 10th anniversary of his Masters victory, the Sandy resident and former BYU golfer is making steady strides in his comeback from injuries and a prolonged slump. He's made the cut in two of five tournaments and barely missed in the other three events.

Stringing together four good rounds in the same week has been an issue for him, but the encouraging aspect is he's mixing in some outstanding scores, such as a 66 in the opening round of the Farmers Insurance Open and a 65 in the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

"Even as poor as I was playing, I knew it was in there," Weir recently told PGATour.com. "So if I didn't have the desire to wake up every morning and keep working hard, I wouldn't have done it, because it's very difficult. But I still have the desire to play, and I want to win."

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Weir did not earn a dollar in PGA Tour competition last year. He had gone since July 2011, shortly before an elbow injury ended his season, without making a cut. Yet he's kept trying to get his game back at age 42, saying he's motivated by wanting to show his daughters he can play at a high level. Elle, 15, and Lili, 12, were too young to appreciate their father's performance earlier this century, when he was one of the game's elite players.

Weir is entered in this week's Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club near Los Angeles, where he won both the 2003 and '04 events.

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